thoughts, inspiration, devotions and recipes from my journey in the far north

Tale of Two and a Half Soups February 22, 2010

Since moving to Aberdeen, I seem to make soups all the time…like once a week at least. They are quick and easy to make, include vegetables, are great re-heated, and are good for you.

The first soup I made a couple of weeks ago. It’s called Bolognese tortellioni broth soup. It tasted best without the bolognese tortellioni. For some reason the beef in the tortellioni had a weird flavor and I thought that instead of the tortellioni, it would taste really good with brown rice (short grain brown rice that is hard to find in Aberdeen unless you go to a health food store…yes, it’s there and I’m very happy). When I remade it for the brown rice, I eliminated the tomato paste. Here’s the recipe (both of them):

Now, tonight I made the Creamy Asparagus Soup, a recipe I found in last week’s newspaper. It’s so easy and I’ve just finished two bowls of it, so it’s good.

Creamy Asparagus Soup

In a pot melt 2 TB butter and fry 1 medium onion chopped until soft. Add 12-14oz of chopped asparagus (you just have to eye it), with woody ends chopped off and discarded. Chop the asparagus into small pieces and add to onions. Add 1 pint (750ml) vegetable or chicken stock–I used both (both stock cubes called for different amounts of water, but I ignored that so that it would be more flavorful–so it was two different stock cubes with just 1 pint of water.) Bring to a boil, turn down and simmer for 10 minutes. Take off heat and puree. Back in pot (if blending in blender), add 8.5 fl oz of half-n-half or single cream. Return to heat, season if necessary. For garnish, cut up some bacon, and fry. Ladle soup into bowls and top with/add bacon pieces. Serves 4